Apologies and Excuses
by The Atomic Cafe
Summary: Set after Forensics and Clue. The morning after, Mac, Stella, and Claire want some questions answered.


**Apologies and Excuses**

**By Dimgwrthien**

_Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: NY or affiliates._

Stella woke up next to two huddled bodies. She yawned, stretched out her arms, feeling pained from the hard floor she had spent the night on. It took her a minute to realize that she wore only a bra and unbuttoned jeans.

Freezing, Stella glanced at who she was next to. Mac sat on one side, eyes still closed, breathing deeply. His shirt was several feet from his body. Claire lie on her opposite side, one arm still draped over Stella's stomach. Even the hangover Stella knew was going to crash into her within seconds couldn't stop her from panicking.

She moved Claire's arm slightly, just enough to stand up and back away from the sleeping couple. Her head started throbbing, and she pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to walk around enough to find her shirt. Even though the sun was already showing through the still-wet windows, the lights were on. Stella remembered the power outage the night before, and it seemed to make her feel twice as guilty.

There. Stella bent down to grab her black shirt from next to one of the chairs, finally getting onto her knees as her head pounded twice as hard. She hissed, curling up, doing anything to stop the feeling.

Claire shifted slightly before bending her back to glance up at Stella. "You alright?" she whispered, then gagged. "Did I swallow a cat?"

"You're hung over," Stella told her, glancing up, her eyes watering from the lights. "And I am, too."

The blonde woman turned onto her side, stretching out her legs and arms. Then she paused. "Hey, Stella…"

Stella finished pulling her shirt over her head. "Huh?"

Claire seemed to hesitate, but she only said, "Could you pass me my shirt?"

Looking around, Stella found the shirt and threw it over to Claire, who turned slightly to put it on. Once she had it on, Claire sat up and drew her legs close to her chest. "We didn't so such a great thing, did we?" Claire asked quietly.

Stella looked at her. Claire looked too young for a moment, hair tangled and loose around her face, covering her bright green eyes a bit. Stella could only laugh.

"We? Claire, I don't think you did anything wrong! You're married to Mac! I'm not married to either of you!" Stella leaned her head into her palms. "Jesus. I'm an idiot."

Claire loosened up a little, letting her legs stretch out slightly so that her knees were further away. "It's alright, Stella. I have a feeling I started it."

"I still joined."

"You're my best friend." Claire reached out her hand so that it lightly brushed Stella's knee. Stella stuck out her hand a little, letting Claire grab onto it. "Stella, no apologies. No worries. No regrets. Either pretend last night didn't happen for any of us, or tell me it was fun."

Stella felt a bit of her brain faint dead away. "Fun?" She paused, breathing deeply. Fun. Apparently fun was having a threesome with your coworker and his wife. "Well, it wasn't horrible," she said slowly, feeling a bit of blood rise into her cheeks.

"Good girl." Claire let go of her hand and stood up, pulling the seat of her pants up a little as she walked. "I'm getting coffee. My head hurts like a son of a bitch. Want any?"

Stella nodded. "How long is Mac going to be out of it?"

"Not long," Claire answered from the kitchen. Stella was glad that Claire was just as hungover. It weakened her voice enough that Stella didn't have to cover her ears. "He usually wakes up rather early, and earlier so on… a nice night." Stella tried to smile as Claire laughed, then remembered that no one was looking at her. There was no one to impress.

Mac shifted a little on the floor, curling up tighter before he opened his eyes. Stella watched him for a minute, seeing how his eyes darted around the room, trying to place himself somewhere, then he sat up a bit too quickly, a hand flying to his head.

"Bad of a hangover as we have?" Stella asked him.

He looked disoriented and could only manage to stare at her in silence before croaking out, "Stella?"

"Yup. Claire's making coffee. You want any?"

"Jesus," Mac hissed, lunging so that he could grab his shirt several feet away. Stella almost laughed as he pulled it back quickly, pulling it on and buttoning it as quickly as possible before realizing that he was missing his undershirt.

"You want any coffee?" Stella repeated.

Mac glanced up at her, eyes widening. This time she actually did laugh. "Jesus, Stella!"

"Mac, just stop panicking! Do - you - want - coffee?"

"Sure, whatever," he snapped. "Stella, please tell me -"

"Claire?" Stella called, feeling her throat scratch. "Mac's up."

"I'll make another cup."

Stella crawled a bit closer to Mac and crossed her legs on the ground. He continued to stare at her, one hand pressed against the side of his head. "Relax, Mac. I don't bite."

"Yes you do!" he answered, looking twice as uncomfortable. "Stella - please tell me we didn't…"

"I'm afraid we did," Stella told him, "and Claire's the only one who doesn't seemed scared of the fact."

Claire entered the room with three mugs cradled in her hands and the crook of her arm. She let Stella take the one from her arm and handed another to Mac before sitting on the nearest chair. "I'm scared of spiders," she told them. "What am I not scared of?"

"What we just did!" Mac glanced up at her with a pleading look in his eyes. "Claire, please, please don't tell me -"

She grinned. "What, Mac?"

"Please tell me you didn't enjoy anything," he groaned. Stella felt a slight surge of sympathy for him and had another urge to leave as quickly as possible. She took a sip of the coffee, though, wincing. Black. Too strong for a hangover. Nevertheless, she took some more, waiting for the pounding in her skull to die.

"No, I didn't." Claire took a long sip, staring at Mac over the rim of her mug.

"Then why do you seem happy?"

She raised her eyebrows and took the mug away from her lips. "Hey, do you see a time machine? I can't go back to last night and get out a burning fire poker to scare you two away. Like I told Stella, we can either forgot this ever happened, or we can get on with our lives."

Mac nodded slowly, looking away towards the window. "I'm voting on forgetting everything."

Claire smiled and toed Mac's arm. "C'mon. Isn't it nice to loosen up once?"

"I'm loose enough," Mac answered. "Stella is, too. And so are you. I don't think any of us needed that…"

Still smiling, Claire told him, "Just pretend it was one of your college days. Everyone did that kind of thing back then."

"Did you?" Mac asked, looking a bit horrified, yet slightly amused. Stella glanced over to Claire, who's smile faded a tiny bit, but not from sadness. She seemed to be chewing it over.

"Once," she told him. "We went to college when that thing started happening. Don't look shocked."

Mac stared at her before looking at his hands that rest on his knees. "Well, I just know that I'm going to forget this day for a long time."

"Hey, it could have been worse," Stella told him.

Mac looked at her glumly. "How?"

"Someone from the lab could have found out." Stella smiled as Mac leaned back onto the floor, covering his eyes with the palms of his hands. Claire laughed out loud, almost spilling her coffee, and Stella finally felt loose enough to join.


End file.
